Road accidents and mortality from traffic accidents in Honduras from 2013 to 2020

Abstract

Introduction. After homicides, traffic accidents are the second cause of violent death in the country. The National Police of Honduras is the government entity responsible for recording the details of these events. Objective. Analyze the frequency of traffic accidents and the mortality associated with them, in the period 2013-2020. Methods. Quantitative, retrospective research. The entire population of 63,908 participants in accidents for the period 2013-2020 was considered, found in the database of the National Police of Honduras and by the Technical Unit of Institutional Coordination (UTECI). Descriptive statistics were applied with a univariate analysis. Results. The death rate decreased from 1 to 3 people per 10 participants from the year 2013-2020. The most frequent sex was male in the range of 20 to 39 years. Mortality predominated in men with 82.8% (8,929) of deaths, predominating the range of 15 to 39 years. The phenomenon of road accidents and mortality, since 2013, has contributed a growth rate of 23%, only interrupted by the global COVID19 pandemic. Regarding responsibility for accidents, 33.4% of the perpetrators (responsible) were men while 1.1% were women. Discussion. Homicides occupy a priority space on the public agenda due to their impact on society; however, traffic accidents report a constant growth rate and despite this, there are no efforts by society as a whole that aim to correct the problem.